Hydrometer-guard.



PA-TENTED APR. 5, 1904.

A. B. PORTER. HYDROMBTER GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20. 1902.

H0 MODEL.

Patented April 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT B. PORTER, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

HYDROMETER-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,702, dated April 5, 1904.

Application filed September 29, 1902- Serial No. 125,210. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT B. Pon'rnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydrometer-Guards, of which the following is a specification.

In the use of hydrometers, such as are ordinarily employed in measuring the specific gravity of liquids, great danger exists of breaking the instrument, which as a rule is of an exceedingly fragile nature, owing to the fact that the hydrometer is usually entirely separate from the receptacle in which it is designed to float and is consequently liable to either fall out of the receptacle upon the floor or table or to be dropped with more or less violence to the bottom of the receptacle, in either of which cases there is a large chance that it will be shattered. Moreover, if separated from the receptacle in connection with which it is ordinarily used the instrument is quite likely to be mislaid or lost. My present improvement is intended to obviate these difficulties by the provision, in connection with the suitable receptacle for the hydrometer, of a guard which while permitting absolute freedom of movement of the hydrometer within the receptacle throughout the extent of travel necessary for the purposes of the desired measurement will limit its travel in both directions, so as to pre vent it from either leaving the receptacle entirely or from coming in contact with the bottom of the receptacle. Such a guard is preferably made in the shape of a wire frame inclosed within the receptacle and secured in some suitable manner against longitudinal movement with respect to the latter. If such framework is provided with a pair of loops made large enough to loosely encircle the upper and lower stems of the hydrometer, but smaller than its middle or bulb portion, and located at a distance apart greater than the length of said bulb portion, one near the mouth and the other far enough from the bottom of the receptacle to prevent contact between the hydrometer and said bottom, it will elfectually protect the instrument from accident under any ordinary circumstances and will prevent it from being separated from its receptacle, which thus becomes, in effect, an

inclosing casing. A guard of this character and embodying my invention in one form is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation showing the hydrometer as mounted Within a receptacle in accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspective detail of the wire guard alone.

In said drawings, A designates the hydrometer proper, shown as made in the usual bulbous form with a downwardly-projecting stem a, which is loaded with shot or otherwise to make the hydrometer float normally in a vertical position, and with an upwardlyprojecting stem to, which is graduated to form a scale a of the instrument.

B is the receptacle, usually a cylindrical vessel of glass, within which the hydrometer proper is mounted and into which is poured the liquid the specific gravity of which is to be measured. p

C is the wire guard for the hydrometer and, as herein shown, consists of a long wire 0, adapted to extend a considerable distance into the receptacle, and three loops 0, c, and c are provided along the length of this wire. The loop 0 is merely a fastening-loop for securing the guard against longitudinal movement with respect to the receptacle B, and, as herein shown, this loop is designed to encircle the exterior of the receptacle just below the flange I) at the mouth of the latter, the longitudinal wire 0 being bent over and around the flange Z) to join the loop 0 and hold it up against the flange and be itself held thereby against upward or outward movement. The loops 0 and 0 are secured to the wire 0 at points well within the receptacle, but at a distance apart considerably greater than the length of the bulb portion of the hydrometer A, and are made of less diameter than this bulb portion, so that the latter cannot pass through them. They are at the same time made larger in diameter than the upper and lower stems a of the hydrometer, so that the latter can move freely through the loops throughout a considerable distance suflicient for .all purposes of meas- IOO ter is not in use its bulb will ordinarily be seated in the lower loop 0 of the wire guard, and thus held safely above the bottom of the vessel. When it is desired to determine the specific gravity of any liquid and the latter is poured into the vessel for this purpose, the floating of the hydrometer in the liquid will lift the bulb olf the loop 0 and leave the hydrometer free to indicate the density of the liquid in the usual manner upon its graduated stem 6. After the desired measurement is obtained the vessel may be tipped to decant the liquid without danger of the hydrometer falling out of it, for under these circumstances or in case the vessel is accidentally upset the contact of its bulb with the upper loop 0 of the wire guard will hold it safely within the vessel in all positions of the latter.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a hydrometer comprising a bulbous middle portion and reduced extremities, of annular stops through which the extremities are adapted to play but with which the bulbous portion may come in contact to limit the movement of the hydrometer, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a hydrometer and its containing vessel, of a wire extending longitudinally within the containing vessel and secured against movement with respect to said vessel, and a stop on said wire limiting the movement of the hydrometer within the vessel, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a hydrometer and its containing vessel, of a wire extending longitudinally within the containing vessel, of a stop on said wire beneath the hydrometer for preventing its contact with the bottom of the vessel and a stop on said wire above the hydrometer to prevent it from leaving the vessel, substantially as described.

4:. The combination with a hydrometer and its containing vessel, of a wire guard extending longitudinally within the vessel and se' 5. In a device of the character described, I

the combination with a hydrometer having a bulbous portion, of a wire guard comprising a longitudinal wire 0, means for securing the wire to an inclosing vessel, and stops 0 and 0 on the wire between which the bulbous portion of the hydrometer may play freely within the vessel, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a hydrometer A, having abulbous middle portion and reduced end portions a and m of the containing vessel B for the hydrometer, and a wire guard C provided in said vessel and extending longitudinally within the same, said guard being provided with the guard-loops 0 and 0 encircling the extremities of the hydrometer and serving as stops for the bulbous body of the latter, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 27th day of September, A. D. 1902.

ALBERT B. PORTER.

Witnesses;

HENRY W. CARTER, K. A. COSTELLO. 

